Ohio Attorney General Says School Employees Will Be Trained On…

COLUMBUS — First-responder safety training will be offered to teachers and school workers statewide, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday in a response to the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., last week and Chardon, Ohio, earlier this year.

“The reality is that, with an active shooter, first responders many times do not get there until someone is killed,” DeWine said. “You know the people who are going to have to deal with it one way or another are teachers.”

DeWine said if he were on a school board, he would seriously consider having an ex-police officer or someone with significant training have access to a gun in school.

“If I was on a school board … I would seriously consider having someone in that school, who may be an ex-police officer, someone who has significant training, someone who had access to a gun in school,” DeWine said. “But you would have to be very careful about it. I’m not saying everyone in the school should be armed but someone who knows what they are doing and who has that gun under lock and key and can get to it instantly out of their office. That’s something I would at least debate and talk about,” DeWine said.

DeWine said arming employees is not the answer for every school and should be a local decision because each school has different needs and culture.